Stamp-affixer.



PA'lfENTED AUG. '7, 190'6.

s. LEWELLEN;

STAMP AFPIXER. y APLIOATION FILED JULY14. 1905.

SAMUEL LEWELLEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STAMP-AFFIXER.

' Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Aug. 7, 1906.

Application filed July 14. 1905. Serial No. 269.667.

To aZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL LEWELLEN, a citizen of the United States, residingat Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Stamp-'Afixers, of which the following is a specificatlon.

' My linvention relates to a new and useful improvement 1n stamp-aflixers, and has for its object to provide a machine in which the stamps .will be fed, lmoistened, and affixed to the envelops allin one operation; and a fur ther object of my invention is to so construct claim.

the machine that the same will be comparatively cheap to manufacture., be composed of few arts, and not liable to get out of order.

Wlith these ends in view this invention 'consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and -then specifically designated by the In order thatl those ,skilled the art to whichthis invention appertains may understandrhow to make and use the same the ,construction and operation will now be dcscribed in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure "1 is a longitudinal section'through my improved machine, showing the presserplate raised Fig. 2, a side elevation of my machine, showing the presserplate depressed.

A represents the framework of the machine, in the forward end of which is arran ed a Water-reservoir B, which is normally covered by a pivoted plate C. This plate may be' thrown back on its pivot, if necessary, to fill' the reservoir B. Vlhen the plate is in its normal position, it furnishes a. .backing for the envelop, upon which the stamp 1s adapted to be affixed. Just above the rearward end of the plate C an inclined surface D is formed on the body, and journaled in the body at this point is a roller E, preferably of rubber or other flexible material, and-said roller is secured to a shaft E,

- which extends through one side ofthe machine.` The periphery of the roller itself extends slightly above the inclined surface D land is designed to fit the stamps to-be affixed. F is a wi'ck of anysuitable absorbent ma terial, the lower end of which lies within the water containedwithin the reservoir B, and

the inclined surfacel D forward of the roller' 15E, so that the stamps passing over the 1nclined surface D with the gummed side downward and fed forward by the rotation of the roller E will be moistened as they pass over, the upper end of the wick F. In order to hold the stamps in contact with both the roller E. and wick l", I provide above the inclined surface D a plate G, pivoted at its rearward end to the body of the machine and held downward in spring contact with the roller and wick by `means of the spring H, which is coiled around the pivot of the plate G, with one arm of the spring vresting upon the top of the plate and the other arm held under tension in a rack-bar H', secured to the body.v Thus the tension of the spring can be increased or decreased by moving the arm of the Spring into one or other of the notches of the rack-bar, or the plate G can be tilted and raised upon its pivot by simply removing the spring from the rack-bar and pulling backward upon the same. l

The stamps are designed to pass between the plate G and the inclined surface D and may be eitherI in the form of a strip which extends out behind the machine, as shown .in the drawings, or several strips can be secured together and coiled upon a drum I, journaled at the rearward end of the 1nachine.

J is a presser-plate secured at the forward 'end of two arms J', which arms extend outside of the body of the machine and are journaled at the rearward end thereof, and the presser-plato when forced downward will strike just above the plate L, upon which the envelop rests. ln order to force the presserplate J downward, any suitable means could be employed, here shown as a bell-crank lever K, with one short member and one long member. The longer member is provided with a handle for operating the lever, and to the shorter member is pivoted one end of a link L, the other end of the link L being pivoted to the presser-plate J, so that when the lever K is pulled forward the presser-plate will be forced downward, as shown in Fig. 2, and when the lever is forced rearward the presser-plate is raised, as shown in lFig. 1. Thus it will be seen that if a stamp is fed through between the plate G and inclined surface D it will pass outward IOO ros

lIO

over the envelop resting upon the plate C, and as the stamp has previouslyv been moistenod by the wick F when the lever K is pullod'forward the stamp is forced in tight contact with the envelop and atliXed, and then by removing,r the envelop the stampwill tear oll from tho others along the lino of perforations.

ln order to l'eed the stamps forward simultaneously with the moving downward of the presser-plate J, I journal loosely' on the protru'ding end ot the shalt E- outside of the body A a disl; M, to which is secured a small gear-wheel N, and l'ormed with or secured to one ol the presser-arms J is a rack t), which is curved concentric with the pivotal point oi' the presser-arms and is ,in mesh with the small ,gear N. Thus when the presser-arms are forced downward the gear N will be revolved in one direction and when the pressers arms are raised the gear will be revolved in the opposite direction. ln order to cause the roller E to always feed in one directionand not roch backward and lorward with the movement olE the `ear N, l secure to the outer end oll the shat't ll/ a ratchet-lwel P, which will revolve with said slial't, and pivoted to the disk M is a spring-paal Q, bearing against the `ratchet-wheel l, and the teeth ol the ratchct-wlwel 'l are so formed and the pa-wl Q so arranged that when thev pressersplate is depressed the pa wl Q will engage the ratchetwheel and revolve the roller l@ forward, and thus feed the stamp. as belore described. over the. envelop before the presser-plate comes in contact therewith. When the presser-plate is raised and the gear N and disk A\l rotated in the opposite direction, the pawl Q will simply spring over the teeth without revolving' the ratchet-wheel l or roller lt). Thus it. will be seen that each time the lever K is pulled for- .i ward one stamp is led over the envelop andingi traveling to a. position over the envelop is` moistened and allixed b v the pressure olI the i presser-plate J, and on a return movement ol' the lever the stamps are not. moved and are t all ina position l'or the next forward movel mont of the lever K, 'so that the machine can l be operated as last as the lever ll can be l moved, all of the operations being entirely D ing a little above and at the rear ol' the envelop-plate. and extending rearwardl)Y over which the string of stamps are adapted to pass, guinmed side downward, a roller jourllaled in the bodyr with its peripheevY extending slitlitl)Y above said surlace and in contact with the stamps, a plate resting upon the roller, a springt'or forcing;r said'plate do\\'n-' ward, means for regulating the t( nsion ol` tht'- spring, a wick extendingr upward l'rom tht water-reservoir through` the bodyV and prt trading through the surface so as to contact the rammed side of the stamps as the)v travel forward, a drum journaled in the rearward end ol` the machine around which the stringr ol stamps may be coiled, a` presser-plate adapted to descend and allix the stamp to the envelop when the same has been fed above the envelop, means for forcing said presser-plate downward, and means depending upon the movement ot' the presser-plate for rotatingr the feeding-roller when the presser-plate descends so as to l'ced the stamps l'orward and cause the roller to re main stationary as the presser-plate rises. as and l'or the purpose specified.

ln testimony whereof l have hereunto aftixed my signature in the presence ol` two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL lilYllililN.

W i tnesses:

'Bastian D'r S'rmmntt, WM. iNLi'rmcws. 

